There is presently a new generation of aircraft designed to operate over relatively short distances and which those of the art refer to as "commuters".
In fact, this type of aircraft is characterized essentially by a relatively simplified design, entailing the need to have landing gears meeting new criteria.
Thus, most of these commuters are equipped with landing gears which do not retract into bays designed for this purpose in the body of the aircraft but which, when they are in a retracted position, are stowed in covers on the side of the aircraft fuselages.
This led to a new generation of landing gears which generally fall into two categories: a first category of the twin-wheel type in which the two wheels are coupled to each other; and a second category known as a tandem arrangement in which two wheels are coupled one behind the other substantially in the same plane, with means for coupling them so as to obtain, for example, the extension or retraction of the landing gear with a single actuation system.
Landing gears developed up to the present time have been designed either to constitute a twin-wheel undercarriage or a tandem undercarriage. However, none of these has been designed specially to provide independently and with a minimum of modification both a twin-wheel type landing gear and a tandem-wheel type landing gear.
It is accordingly the object of the present invention to provide a retractable type landing gear; notably for aircraft, which can constitute a basic element common to both twin-wheel landing gears and tandem-wheel landing gears.